"What do you think?" Wednesdays - How much is too much makeup?

With beauty blogging comes a bigger make-up drawer. With a bigger make-up drawer comes more make-up. With more make-up, comes an empty bank account. Whilst this is a very well known and accepted fact amongst beauty bloggers, does there become a point where you simply have too much make-up? Is there a line that you can cross to enter 'excessive and unnecessary' territory or can you literally never have enough makeup?

The size of one's makeup collection is relative - it cannot be labelled big or small unless there is something for it to be compared to. My make-up collection, for instance, is absolutely huge in comparison to my Mum's which consists of the absolute basics. However, when I compare it to most other beauty bloggers, I find myself muttering about how tiny it is and how lacking in shade selection it is. Is it a big or a small collection? To be honest I really do not know, but it doesn't stop me from feeling both hungry for more and guilty for 'wasting' money on products I will never use up.

"How does that even make sense?" you may be thinking. It puzzles me quite a bit too. On one hand I'm thinking about all the people who could really do with the money I am spending on yet another lipstick in a similar shade to the ten I already have, but on the other hand that lipstick (which is coincidentally on sale for $10) is really calling out my name.

I try to justify my purchases with any excuse that I can, but it doesn't really change the fact that I really do not need it. Some of the excuses I have come up with include "I don't have anything like this!" (lie), "It's only $5 so it's not like I'm wasting that much money," (true, except for the 5 other things priced at $5 too) and "It's my hobby, other people have obsessions with comic books or model aeroplanes, mine is make-up," (true, but I could always put it safely away in the bank).

When writing this post it really forced me to think about whether I had actually stepped over the line of having too much makeup, and if I'm honest with you, I think I probably have. Yes, I may only have two foundations whereas others have eight, and yes I may only own two highlighters and three bronzers when others dedicate a whole shelf to such products, but in the end one of each product would probably be sufficient. Not nearly as much fun, but sufficient.

Instead of feeling all guilty about it and vowing never to purchase anything ever again, I have decided to really think about my purchases beforehand in order to eliminate any silly purchases. I feel better about my collection when I think about how often I use all the products and how much fun I get from using them.I think this is what you need to think about when weighing up your make-up collection:
- Do you use the majority of the products?
- Can you actually afford your collection, or do your big purchases continually leave you in an awkward financial position?
- Have you got any other products like this?
- Is there anything that you actually need that you could spend this money more sensibly on?
- How much does it bother you when you think of other things you could have spent the money on?

Basically, with no real answers to give, I think the key point here is balance. Everyone's idea of balance will be different but as long as you feel comfortable about it all, that is the main thing. I also think judging other people about their choices when it comes to their make-up collection is also important to avoid. I, for example, spend my spare change on make-up so it would appear as I 'waste' a lot, however I spend almost nothing on my mobile phone bill and I consider it to be a waste when others spend $400 on theirs! Everyone has different choices which allow them to justify their purchases.

What do you think about all of this? Is there a clear cut line for you when it comes to having a make-up collection too big, or do you think there is no such thing as too much?!